Motherhood, There is Nothing More Important

4 Generations: Leola Pierce Peterson (seated), Carol Ann Peterson Ohms (left),
Amy Ohms Archibald (right), and Emma Patience Archibald (infant)

"Yours is the grand tradition of Eve, the mother of all the human family, the one who understood that she and Adam had to fall in order that 'men [and women] might be' and that there would be joy. Yours is the grand tradition of Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel, without whom there could not have been those magnificent patriarchal promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which bless us all. Yours is the grand tradition of Lois and Eunice and the mothers of the 2,000 stripling warriors. Yours is the grand tradition of Mary, chosen and foreordained from before this world was, to conceive, carry, and bear the Son of God Himself. We thank all of you, including our own mothers, and tell you there is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God, in bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of His daughters and sons, so that immortality and eternal life can come in those celestial realms on high."

- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because She Is a Mother," LDS General Conference, April 1997.